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Woody Shaw: Love Dance
by Jack Kenny
With Time Travelers, Zev Feldman injects new life into Muse Records, the label founded by Joe Fields in 1972. Muse offered a platform to artists who were often in danger of being overlooked or forgotten by major record companies. Feldman, renowned for his lavishly produced archival releases, has brought the same care and vision to this new series.The Time Travelers series launched in October 2025 with three releases: drummer Roy Brooks's 1972 live album The Free Slave; pianist ...
Continue ReadingCarlos Garnett: Cosmos Nucleus
by Pierre Giroux
When Cosmos Nucleus first appeared in 1976 on Muse Records, it was the kind of album that seemed to evoke various idioms. It was a bold statement that drew strength from jazz's spiritual core while speaking in the electrified dialect of funk and fusion. Tenor saxophonist Carlos Garnett, a Panamanian-born firebrand who had sharpened his skills alongside Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Art Blakey, conceived this project as both a personal revelation and a cosmic exploration. Nearly fifty years later, ...
Continue ReadingRoy Brooks: The Free Slave
by Pierre Giroux
Roy Brooks's The Free Slave, newly reissued on Time Traveler Recordings as a 180-gram vinyl LP, stands as a passionate tribute to the drummer's remarkable artistry and his often overlooked role as one of the most rhythmic thinkers of the post-bop period. Recorded live by Muse Records on April 26, 1970, at Baltimore's renowned Left Bank Jazz Society, the session features Brooks leading a stellar quintet that includes trumpeter Woody Shaw, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Hugh Lawson, and bassist ...
Continue ReadingThe Changing Times of Cecil McBee
by Rob Rosenblum
It was 1971 and the jazz scene was struggling and jazz musicians were grabbing gigs wherever they could. Many were moving to Europe where they felt they had greater acceptance. It was at that time when Albany, New York area saxophonist Nick Brignola connected with the State University of New York and produced the first and only SUNY Jazz Festival. Because Albany is only 150 miles from New York City musicians eagerly came upstate where the pay was far from ...
Continue ReadingAlice Coltrane: The Carnegie Hall Concert
by Mike Jurkovic
The most perfect of time machines, with no errant destinations and no abrupt landings, The Carnegie Hall Concert transports one to a time when artists took their art seriously, when it was sacrosanct. Alice Coltrane's harp comes on like the siren lure of angels, like a missionary, calling all to stop their labor. It seems to say, “Come to listen, come to wonder, come to rest, don't be afraid." And Coltrane wasn't, not ever. Here she was with ...
Continue ReadingRoy Brooks: Understanding
by Angelo Leonardi
Il doppio compact di Roy Brooks pubblicato da qualche giorno (anche in lussuoso triplo vinile e in versione digitale) non è solo un tributo a uno dei massimi batteristi dei decenni sessanta/ottanta. Registrato il 1° novembre 1970 a Baltimora, presenta uno dei concerti più esaltanti del jazz contemporaneo, un hard bop intriso d'avanguardia—in particolare John Coltrane—che si sviluppa con intensità febbrile per due ore. Il merito va al misconosciuto batterista di Detroit e al suo quintetto comprendente Woody Shaw alla ...
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